It is well known to package articles in cartons which include dividers or separators for segregating the articles from each other. Many cartons of this type, however, require a separate operation to insert the dividers, which adds to the cost of the carton. Also adding to the cost is the greater amount of paperboard needed to fabricate such a carton.
In addition to the costs associated with the above problems, the packaging requirements of certain articles cause other problems, the solution to which is also usually expensive. For instance, if it is desired to package different types of articles in the same carton and to keep each type completely separate from the others, the package dividers are required to extend substantially all the way from the bottom to the top of the carton, which complicates the carton design considerably. An example of such a requirement would be a carton for packaging different types of food, such as different flavors of food packets or envelopes, where each different type of envelope has to be kept in its own separate compartment. Adding to the complicated design of such a package is the need to provide ready access to each of the cells in the carton so that the food packets can be easily dispensed from the carton as needed.
It would obviously be desirable to be able to package articles in segregated compartments of a carton without encountering excessive costs due to increased material usage or time consuming carton fabrication requirements.